cults

We use the phase "Drinking the Kool-Aid" as we joking talk about a mythical "Cult of Tesla." The phrase "Drinking the Kool-Aid" means to blindly follow someone without asking any questions. Check out the deadly story behind drinking the Kool-Aid, where we go into more detail on the sad circumstances of the origin of that phrase.

It is sad to see people blindly believe every myth about Nikola Tesla without questioning the validity. Tesla was indeed a pioneer and visionary in many areas of technology and science, but he did not invent many of the things the Tesla fanatics claim.

Nikola Tesla has a cult following that gives him credit for inventing just about everything. There are people who object to the phrase "the Cult of Tesla," but the Tesla fanatics are a prime example of a cult. Tesla fanatics have an "us against them" mentality with stories full of conspiracy theories of how the government took all of Tesla's files when he died. When it comes to any attempts to have a rational conversation, they deny any facts that might contradict the group's beliefs.

When I told someone that a statement they made regarding Tesla was false, their comeback was, "Do you have a source for it being false?" LMFAO! If I claim to be the king, does that make it so, until someone proves me wrong? The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, proof is provided that gives validity to the claim. Having a meaningful conversation with Tesla fanatics can be frustrating because there is a complete avoidance of critical thinking.

Debunking Nikola Tesla myths on electricity and AC current

Here at the World of Questy, we explore the myths and legends. Over at the GeekHistory website we document the inventions and the inventors.

When studying famous geeks, it is interesting to see how some inventors and scientists rise to the level of cult heroes, while others are totally forgotten. There are times where it appears that the Internet has given birth to the World Wide Weird with all the myths and legends.

I started frequenting Quora about a year ago to get ideas for my Geek History website. The question and answer website Quora allows users to ask questions that are answered by its community of users. I wanted to see what kind of questions were typically being asked. There is so much hype and misinformation there, especially on topics like inventor Nikola Tesla, who is worshiped there like a god.

The cult hero status of Tesla on Quora is amazing. I recently asked someone who was not a regular on Quora to visit Quora specifically to look at all the questions on Tesla, and he was amazed with all the questions, as well as all the mis-information being presented.

The fascination with Nikola Tesla may appear to be a more recent event on the internet because of sites like Quora, but that is in the context of the internet itself being a relatively new vehicle to discuss mysteries and conspiracy theories. Many of the myths and legends that many websites now present as new discoveries of lost information have been around awhile.

The history of strange science

I have been interested in science and science fiction since the 1970s. Different topics seem to rise and fall from time to time over the years. Topics such as UFOs and conspiracy theories that I remember from various popular books and magazines in the 1970s and 1980s, are now being created as websites on the internet.

Questy's Thoughts

Questy on Twitter

Unless otherwise credited all photos, graphics, and written content is the copyrighted property of Questy aka Tom Peracchio. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution of any of the pages of this web site is illegal, not to mention rude.

The Tao of Questy is about love and laughter and being human. It's about sharing ideas and being a little bit crazy in order to stay sane.